Make More Possible | Sept. 24, 2018
Dear Friend,
We’re one week closer to Election Day. This week, Win the Day is about creating a fair and inclusive state through our politics.
Let’s imagine what Minnesota would be like if we decided that in our politics, everyone’s in, and nobody’s out. This simple idea could change everything.
The Trump Administration is a master of othering. Pushing people out of our society, deciding who belongs and who doesn’t. Who is and isn’t worthy.
But he didn’t invent the narratives that some politicians use to divide us by our race or class. He just exploits them.
So, fellow progressives. We need new narratives.
Imagine the revolution that would take place in our politics if we decided everyone’s in, no exception. In our health care system. In our democracy. In our circle of human concern.
This is the big change we’re fighting for. This is how we win the day.
Here are the stories, people, and ideas we’re excited to share with you this week.
Change the Story
How one union expanded who’s in for 85 years.
Defining who’s in and who’s out has real consequences, in law and in culture. And it’s never expanded without a fight.
After a few years, it can be tempting to take basic recognition for granted.
Or even worse, we can get misty-eyed and foggy-brained about what it took to win back in the day, as if a few stirring speeches got the job done.
Fortunately, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota knows what it takes.
SEIU Healthcare Minnesota is a union local of over 35,000 healthcare and long-term care workers. To celebrate their 85th birthday this month they created this four minute video sharing their history of organizing care workers across the state. Seriously, watch this:
Founded two years before the National Labor Relations Act was passed and a year before the famed Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, they have always organized workers who are excluded.
‘Invisible No More’ was the slogan of their 2014 campaign to organize home care workers, a workforce that’s disproportionately women and people of color. They do work, domestic work, that to this day is excluded from the protections of the NLRA.
By defining what is ‘real work’ and who should be included in basic protections, SEIU members have set new standards and made more possible for all of us.
Organizing for the Win
Justice 4 All and Women of Color for Mark Haase & Angela Conley
TakeAction Minnesota member leaders are throwing down on two local races in Hennepin County: Mark Haase for County Attorney and Angela Conley for Hennepin County District 4.
Haase and Conley are both leaders fighting to expand who is in.
Mark Haase is fighting to #ReclaimJustice. He’s an attorney fighting to end a mass incarceration system that shuts people out of jobs, housing, the voting booth, and society.
Angela Conley is running against a long-term incumbent and, if elected, would be the first and only person of color to sit on the Hennepin County Board. Ever. Winning the day happens when we organize to win elections and build power to make long-term change. And representation matters.
Ideas Worth Fighting For
Restore the Vote
Who counts? Literally. At 8 p.m. on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, some folks get counted. While others are excluded from voting.
In Minnesota, 47,000 people are denied the vote due to a prior felony conviction.
But it doesn’t need to be this way.
Fourteen states and Washington D.C. permit voting upon release from prison. In Maine and Vermont, people can still vote while serving time.
And it hasn’t always been this way. The percentage of voting age Minnesotans disenfranchised as a result of a criminal conviction has grown as the mass incarceration system has expanded, increasing over 400% since 1974.
The Restore the Vote coalition has been trying to redefine who counts by permitting everyone who’s not in jail to vote in Minnesota. All 47,000.
Our democracy works better when we use it. It gets stronger with exercise, and weaker when neglected.
Our state needs more, not fewer people participating. That’s what political healing looks like. It’s what’s possible for all of us, when we count everyone in.
Question of the Week
What’s at stake for YOU in the Governor’s Race?
Submit your answer to our Question of the Week here. We love to hear from you.
For me (Kenza), the Governor’s race is a chance to have a new progressive Administration who’s ready to fight with us around shared values that are deeper than a particular policy agenda–and the policy is critical.
For me (Chris), the stakes could not be any clearer or higher. This election is a choice between democratic pluralism or fear-based exclusion. Are we building a state for everyone or a state where politicians pick & choose who’s a ‘real’ Minnesotan? I’ll be voting for the candidates who are fearless about our future. Tim Walz and Peggy Flanagan are walking that walk.
That’s a wrap.
– Kenza and Chris
Kenza Hadj-Moussa is communications director. Contact: kenza@takeactionminnesota.org and follow: @KenzaHadjMoussa.
Chris Conry is the strategic campaigns director. Contact: chris@takeactionminnesota.org and follow: @ChrisConry.
